VeganMoFo - The beginning!

In September, driving home from my parents house, I was alone with my own thoughts. My iPod decided to not turn on. I faced the 5 hour drive flittering thru country music stations or christian rock stations. I spent much of the trip sans music. This is where I hatched my Vegan Month idea.

I have a confession.

This vegan experiment really wasn't about heath, or economics, or the environment or even ethics.

I was driving along and thinking if the nearest grocery store to my house was open or not. This particular store is know for great bargins on staples but is horrible in the fresh food category. To thier credit, they do have a tasty brand of soy milk, but I don't shop there for much besides plastic sandwich baggies and frozen berries. So I started roaming the store in my head thinking of what I could pick up. This was the Ex's favorite shop. He was in love with thier packaged dinners and food products. And I do have to admit, they have some tasty things IF you're not concerned about your health and sodium intake. I was thinking of all the things I would cook for him that he purchased at this shop... breaded chicken breasts with cheese, shelf stable creamy salad dressings, wings, nachos.... instant mashed potatoes.

INSTANT
freakin
MASHED
freakin
POTATOES

ew

Now, I have a thing about mashed potaotes. I make 'em good, with tons of butter and roasted garlic and heavy cream. They are a vision of buttery goodness.

Over the course of our doomed relationship, I not only would make, but I would consume, instant mashed potatoes at least once a week. Double Ew. Instant Mashed potatoes aren't even a real food. It's a bunch of chemicals pretending to be food!!

So driving in that car, I can to the hazy realization that I had changed fundanmental things in my life for a man who cared so much about me that he spent 12 hours a day having phone sex with teenagers and married women.

Triple Ew.

Before I moved across the state to live with the Ex, I was mostly vegetarian. The only time I ate meat would be in chinese food 'cuz roast pork is the bomb (as the youths would say). I came to the conclusion that in order to reclaim my emotional and mental health, I had to go back to some of the fundamentals before the controlling-abusive-assy-wonder. Vegan eating seemed like a good place to start.

So here I am, a month sans animal produts under my belt and I'm feeling pretty good. I've decided to join VeganMo(nth of) Fo(od), which is a month of celebrating vegan food thru blogs. This is a good way to ease into the life and learn and grow. I'm not saying I'll never have blue cheese again, and a bbq rib might slip into the scene, but I feel that limiting animal product consumption is a good idea.

So let's get on with it!